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Archives for September 2018

Jesus Will Sustain You

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Who will sustain you to the end . . .

1 Corinthians 1:8

Most of God’s grace is His work behind the scenes, even largely hidden from those who have clear spiritual sight. Much is attributed to man what should ultimately only be attributed to God. While the Bible undeniably addresses man and his volition will, it never divorces it from God’s enabling grace.

When we don’t give God all the glory for our salvation, which includes our perseverance in faith, we commit idolatry—ascribing to man what belongs to God. This happens much more than we realize. That doesn’t mean that we should be passive instead of actively pursuing God’s will.

However, the fuel of our active obedience is God’s enabling grace: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

Today’s verse is massively encouraging, especially since Paul addressed to a church that had significant divisive and moral issues. Nevertheless, he stated that Jesus “will sustain you to the end.” He’s the One who will bring you safely home.

That echoes what Jesus Himself had said: “I give them [My sheep] eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). He does so by sustaining us throughout our lives. In the end, God’s word will prove to be true: “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isa. 46:4).

 

This devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, the book used for Jesus’ $100,000,000 birthday gift. Will you join His collective birthday gift and buy the one-year devotional on Christmas Day, 2019, for just $9.99?

The Gift of His Son

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Here’s a devotional from An Unfathomable Gift. For more info about God’s amazing grace, click here.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

John 3:16

This verse is one of the most popular Bible verses. During major sporting events, we sometimes see banners promoting this verse, trying to stimulate our curiosity. Why? It emphasizes God’s love for us by giving His Son.

The Bible makes a profound statement about God’s nature: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). What is our picture of God? Is it accurate? When we check out at the cash register and see the tabloids, we can easily fall for what is fictitious. Many depict a sleazy story in order to sell, completely undermining accuracy. Also, in our own lives, we can easily manipulate our “truth” by leaving out important information or adding some drama to it. The Bible is clear: knowing God means knowing “God is love” and reflecting that through our lives.

He who loves little will express little, and he who loves much will express much. Since God is infinite, His love is also infinite. He expressed everlasting love by giving Jesus. Why is that significant? The answer is related to what comes after the comma: “That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

No matter how healthy we try to live, we’re fragile human beings. Death comes to all! Then, the age-old question arises: What happens when we die? Do we come back in some other life-form as taught in reincarnation? Do we go back to nothingness? Or, is there a God to whom we have to give an account? The Bible is unambiguous: “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). The author of Hebrews stated: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

We are guilty because of our rejection of God. We’ve gone our own way, indifferent to His word: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” (Isa. 53:6). The latter part of this verse in Isaiah, however, expresses God’s boundless love: “And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus died for our sins. He suffered the just penalty that we deserve. When we believe in Jesus—who He is and what He has accomplished—we have the gift of eternal life. Why would anyone refuse such a gift?

Sincerely,

Jan

 

P.S. will you, as a believer, join Jesus’ collective birthday gift? Can you even begin to imagine what can (and will!) happen when Christians unite for such a birthday gift? Click here for more info.

Vanity

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This devotional is from It’s All about Jesus (a one-year devotional about who He is and what He has accomplished, obtained, and promised to do for you).

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

The knowledge of Christ is measurable. When one has truly found Jesus, he’s willing to gladly part with everything: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44).

Paul stated that as follows: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

God included a whole book in the Bible in order to show Jesus’ incomparable worth against the greatest wisdom and riches. After much labor, Solomon came to the conclusion that “all is vanity.” Many times, we only discover that as we get older. What seemed so important to us in years gone by has lost its meaning and value.

What about right now? Do we highly value what has no value? Do we pursue emptiness? Or have we come to the same conclusion as Solomon? We may well pray with the psalmist: “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways” (Ps. 119:37).

How does your scale look between Jesus and everything else? Is He so weighty to you—the Hebrew word for God’s glory means to be weighty—that everything else is as nothing in comparison? One of the greatest deceptions is to pursue vanity, thinking it has real value.

Sincerely,

Jan

 

P.S. will you join Jesus’ collective birthday gift? For more info, click here.